Review of Three Treats Too Many

From the publisher of Three Treats Too Many

For someone whose greatest culinary skill is ordering takeout, Sarah never expected to be co-owner of a restaurant. Even her Siamese cat, RahRah, seems to be looking at her differently. But while Sarah and her twin sister, Chef Emily, are tangled up in red tape waiting for the building inspector to get around to them, an attention-stealing new establishment—run by none other than Sarah’s late ex-husband’s mistress, Jane—is having its grand opening across the street.

Jane’s new sous chef, Riley Miller, is the talk of Wheaton with her delicious vegan specialties. When Riley is found dead outside the restaurant with Sarah’s friend, Jacob, kneeling over her, the former line cook—whose infatuation with Riley was no secret—becomes the prime suspect. Now Sarah must turn up the heat on the real culprit, who has no reservations about committing cold-blooded murder…

My review

I have not read the previous books in the series, so perhaps that colors my review. Also, I was interested in this book because of the description and the positive reviews on the first two books by others. With that said, I started reading with high hopes, but came away feeling this one was just a little too cozy for this cozy fan.

This book should appeal to those who like a steady hand at the writing wheel. There’s plenty of small-town ambience and small-town goings on. With that said, it felt like the small town goings on got in the way of the mystery. On the plus side, the plot did move at a steady pace and I didn’t know who the killer was until the end. Also, there were some twists that surprised me—and that’s always good.

The bottom line is that there were pluses and minuses to this book, but with clever cover art and plenty of food and pets, Three Treats Too Many is clearly targeted at pet and foodie mystery fans.